Bulls players to juggle classes, game Friday

Friday's home game against No. 20 West Virginia is the second of three weeknight games for USF this season, and that will give some Bulls players the challenge of attending classes on a game day.

"We've got a lot of professors, and I don't blame them, that want them in class, and I think they should be in class," coach Jim Leavitt said Wednesday after the Bulls' final practice in preparation for Friday's game. "A few guys, if they can get away from that, then we seclude them. If not, then they're going to go to school. Their education is No. 1."

Players typically have little else to worry about on a Saturday game day, waiting in a team hotel and meeting with coaches before taking a bus to the stadium.

"We have some guys taking classes Friday that are starting in the game," Leavitt said. "Can that be tough on them? Well, I don't know. It's just the way it is. Education is No. 1. That's the way it is. They're going to go to school, take tests on Friday, then go play a game."

Asked if that is how USF has handled weeknight games in the past, Leavitt said the decision is left up to each player's individual professors, and the players do as they're told.

"It's whatever the professor wants. They go see the professor and if the professor wants them there, then by golly, they're going to be there," he said. "We'd like to have it to where, if they could get away and get focused on the game, it'd be great. But it's not always that way, and I'm not one to question anybody. I just do whatever we're told to do. Education is why they're here."

West Virginia's players will miss most of two days of school, with a team meeting scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday before the team's flight to Tampa leaves at 11:45.

USF lost to Cincinnati on a Thursday night two weeks ago, and the Bulls' next game after a week off is a Thursday date at Rutgers on Nov. 12.

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